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NFL Picks

Pick Road Dogs in Ravens vs. Cowboys NFL Preseason Week 2

Baltimore Ravens hope to continue their winning form in the preseason when they descend on the Dallas Cowboys who are looking for their first win yet. Find out what the NFL betting odds are and where the value NFL picks are to be had.

Baltimore Ravens +1.0 -110

Baltimore Ravens opened their season with a resounding 23-3 victory at home to the San Francisco 49ers. A gauntlet throwing preseason win that has many NFL bettors, all of sudden, turning to the Ravens at +3000 in Super Bowl betting markets as a potential shortlist contender for their sleeper NFL picks.

Joe Flacco was solid in his only series as he came up with a sublime 80-yard touchdown and the Ravens et al produced 386 yards in offense at the expense of the Niners who seemingly lost the plot. Former Texans’ head coach Gary Kubiak was brought in to revive Ravens’ offense, bring it back to their Super Bowl winning standard. If week 1 of NFL preseason action were an early indication of where this offense is headed, it’s quite promising. Flacco looked extremely comfortable in the new scheme and his pals on offense took to it like ducks to water. What’s more, backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor wasn’t too bad at all with 13-of-21 passes for 116 yards with one touchdown, thoroughly outplaying his 49ers opposite.

Dallas Cowboys -1.0 -110

The Dallas Cowboys were woeful in their 27-7 defeat to the San Diego Chargers in week 1 of preseason action. In their defense, their starting quarterback Tony Romo didn’t feature in the game, sitting out as he continues to recover from intense back surgery. The responsibility came down to Brandon Weeden, Dustin Vaughn and Caleb Hanie. Weeden opened the first half and completed 13-of-17 passes for 107 yards and a touchdown, while Vaughn went 7-of-14 for 80 yards.

Tony Romo is expected to feature in the Ravens clash this weekend, marking his first taste of NFL action on the season and the first real preview for Cowboys fans of where his form potentially might be headed into the upcoming season. Reports suggest the star quarterback is fit and raring to go against the Ravens, which is all around good news. However, only on game day will we know whether that is an accurate assessment of Romo’s form. Back surgery is no dinky surgery. It’s serious stuff and recovery time is an arduous process. Taking extreme risks certainly isn’t an option Romo should entertain in the preseason.

NFL Betting Verdict: Gary Kubiak’s offensive-minded Ravens now head to Dallas where they hope to extend their winning form all while totting up more impressive numbers. Odds makers match the Ravens as the nominal underdogs at +1.0 (-110), which is basically a moot point all things being considered. Ravens were mighty convincing in their opener and based on week 1’s results, one would assume they deserve to be the favourites. Travelling hasn’t been their strong suit in recent regular season outputs, so it’s something to consider when making our NFL picks. That being said if they bring the same offensive-minded approach to Dallas, watch if they don’t ride roughshod over the Cowboys .

Both sides have many kinks to work out before the upcoming season, the Cowboys more so than the Ravens. Cowboys, matched as the favourites at -1.0 (-110), should be more concerned about giving Romo appropriate action in order to prepare him for the upcoming season rather than winning the game. It’s an exhibition game, hardly worth the agro and risk involved particularly to a healing Romo. Another concern in this game is how Dallas’s defense will handle the new-and-improved Ravens offense that looked frighteningly lethal against the Niners. Badly judging by the pummelling they received courtesy of the Chargers.

Cowboys’ opening game against the Chargers revealed plenty of issues on both sides of the ball, some of which will improve when Romo takes the field but not entirely as he certainly won’t play the whole game, which brings the responsibility down to the backups and how well they’ll stack up. Early indications suggest Ravens are much better prepared, so we’re banking on the road underdogs.